


Guardian of the Hellions

by LordReborn



Series: Stray connections do KNOT (Always Entangle) [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Aizen Sousuke Being Aizen Sousuke, F/M, Family Shenanigans, Gen, aizen gets second hand embarassment just watching them, byakuya doing supermarket reviews on his youtube channel, everyone has one job and it's mainly to babysit a three hundred year old man, he cleans he cooks you know the rest, hopeless teenagers with crushes, watch byakuya fall into domestic habits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28262646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordReborn/pseuds/LordReborn
Summary: In the aftermath of saving Kurosaki Ichigo from the royal realm, the Soul Society thought that the punishments they dish out to the 'traitors' will be correspondingly horrible.It's too bad for them that certain Shinigami are more than accustomed to this kind of thing by now - they know how to take them, run with them, and most importantly, make it a nightmare for the higher ups in the process.
Relationships: Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kurosaki Karin
Series: Stray connections do KNOT (Always Entangle) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2039626
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is an accompanying fic to the original piece And then the Sun rises; i warmly recommend you read that before diving into this one because otherwise you will get confused and properly spoiler-ed

* * *

_“Wait – what?! Did I hear you right? Byakuya-”_

Byakuya doesn’t even pause to acknowledge Kurosaki Isshin’s inane sputtering. He flips his phone closed and sighs, looking at the splatter of blood on the ground in front of him. 

The Hollow he just killed was below any vermin in current existence. Byakuya barely had to lift his sword to kill it. In the following minute, the man wondered if he had the wrong address.

Surely, Kyoraku-soutaichou wouldn’t just send him on a useless mission in the living world, but then again, Nanao Ise _would_. Both of them have a pretty sadistic sense of humor, and now that Byakuya and a couple of fellow captains are essentially considered traitors with a hundred percent rate of being pardoned, they are their first victims.

He should have expected that, in all honesty.

The sixth division captain should have known that things are never so black and white, and they are certainly never this easy. Central 46 usually demands blood, but too many captains and high ranking, _valuable_ soldiers are involved. They cannot make any stupid move, but what they can do is leave the so-called punishment in the hands of the first division of the Gotei 13.

He doesn’t doubt that Nanao Ise was delighted to be given the task since she harbors a mean streak bigger than the Seiretei. _Especially_ after they’ve practically been humiliated by the traitors in their own midst.

What really ticks him off though, is that they lied to him. They could have simply stepped up and announced the real reason they were giving him this farce of a mission. But no, Byakuya had to waste his damn time hunting for a baby Hollow that couldn’t even stand upright when he approached.

The captain looks up at the setting sun and ponders on his next move.

Kyoraku and his lieutenant had spelled it out quite descriptively – he is no more welcome in the Seiretei, at least not for the time being. Byakuya honestly doubts that they will risk losing the head of the Kuchiki clan, but they still have to keep up appearances. Even so, why couldn’t they keep up appearances while also sending a real threat his way, at the very least?

Byakuya masks the sneer on his face behind a sigh and checks the digital clock on the phone’s screen.

_18:34_

Then he checks his position again and finds himself in a town barely half an hour away from Karakura.

He was irritated at first, but then an idea struck him, which had prompted the call to Kurosaki Isshin. The man had confirmed that his targets are back home, which means that Byakuya has the reason, the opportunity, and the means to take his first real vacation in two over decades.

Snapping his phone shut again, he shunpoes away, towards Karakura town. His first stop will be at Urahara’s for a gigai, and then he will be off to the Kurosaki household.

* * *

Yuzu was almost done with dinner preparations when the doorbell rang, two times in quick succession.

“Can you answer that, Karin-chan?” She calls out to her sister, who is currently lounging on the living room couch.

Karin groans, but does as she was asked.

Yuzu strains to hear the conversation in the hallway and her alarm grows when her sister raises her voice at whoever is on the other side of the door.

Resolved to mitigate the situation, Yuzu snatches a towel to dry her hands and makes her way to the door.

“And I’m asking you why goat face suddenly decided that?” Karin’s scowl is almost palpable.

Yuzu looks up curiously and finds, “Byakuya-san!”

Byakuya inclines his head politely in greeting, still stuck in the doorway and Yuzu turns to glare at her sister.

“Why are you keeping Byakuya-san at the door?”

Karin is speechless for long enough that Yuzu takes the opportunity to invite their guest inside.

“Please sit down!”

“W-Wait a second! Yuzu!”

But Karin is too late. Byakuya has already sat down at the kitchen table.

With a sigh, Karin stomps over and takes the chair facing him.

The man is already nursing a hot cup of tea.

“Tell Yuzu what you told me.”

The man’s grey eyes are sharp enough to cut, but Karin met worse. She levels him with another glare until he finally relents.

“I spoke to your father and he said that it will be another couple of months until they will return. Currently, your brother is still in a state of deep sleep and they do not know when he will wake up.”

Yuzu gasps, hands flying to cover her mouth and eyes watering. In turn, Karin’s expression darkens at the grim news.

“Since I am currently on vacation, I agreed to take up the job of keeping an eye on you. In conclusion, I will be staying here for the foreseeable future.”

The older twin snorts, but Yuzu just smiles and nods, much to her sister’s shock.

“Of course that’s fine, Byakuya-san! I’m actually glad that you are here. To be honest, I was kind of worried about Hollow attacks, and since there’s only me and Karin-chan here…”

She trails off but Byakuya nods in understanding.

Karin scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

“I wasn’t worried. I can dispose of the Hollows and we don’t need a babysitter.”

“You are still young, underage by law and rather untrained.” Byakuya’s words are meant to be truthful, yet they still cut to the bone.

Karin leans forward with a growl.

“You-“

“Which means that it will be good for someone to keep an eye on you.”

“You can’t just barge in here and mooch off! Besides, don’t you think that it’s a little overkill for you to be here?”

Yuzu sends a berating glance to her sister, but Karin brushes it off.

“I am not mooching off-“

“Soul Society currency doesn’t work here!”

Byakuya stops, mouth open and considers his options. Obviously, his money won’t work. The Kurosaki twins also seem to have the kitchen down pat, not that he has any skills in that area whatsoever.

“I will be disposing of the Hollows.” He amends, but Karin is set to tear him apart.

Why? – he cannot pretend to know.

“I can do that too. I’m a Quincy, remember?”

He would rather not, to be entirely honest.

Byakuya purses his lips and plays his trump card.

“I will help with chores around the house.”

There, he said it.

Karin should better appreciate his willingness to impart with them such a load. Byakuya rather thinks that he should be treated as a guest, but the girl sitting in front of him continues to drive a hard bargain. He can only suspect that she rather liked not being supervised by an adult, but life isn’t fair nor is it supposed to be. There are enough dangers out there to make Byakuya’s skin crawl and he cannot imagine how stupid Kurosaki Isshin is for thinking to leave the girls on their own.

Karin’s face splits into a grin, large enough to signal nothing good to him. Yuzu yelps with surprise and elegantly tries to deny the need that Byakuya should be subjected to such a workload, but Karin cuts off her sister by slamming her palm on the table between them.

“That’s more like it. Fine, you can stay!” She stands to her feet, making the chair screech against the tiles on the floor.

Byakuya hides his wince with a nod, resigned to his fate because one thing is quite obvious. Both Kurosaki Ichigo and Karin share not only some common physical features but also enough personality quirks to make it unnerving and bothersome when it comes to dealing with them.

Byakuya tries to not be personally affronted by this matter, but it is hard when he just signed himself as their maid in exchange for bed and food.

And the worst part?

It felt like he was arguing with Kurosaki Ichigo the whole damn time.

* * *

Byakuya wakes up bright and early the next morning.

The clock on Kurosaki Isshin’s nightstand reads six twenty-three as he stands to his feet and heads for the bathroom at the end of the hallway. Truthfully, he’d have rather slept in a room inside the clinic, but Yuzu insisted that they had two whole empty rooms in the house and that Byakuya could have the main bedroom until their father and their brother came back.

It felt a bit overkill, but then again, it is quite clear that Kurosaki Ichigo’s room is off-limits to everyone. And as much as Karin puts up a tough front, the girls obviously feel lonely inside this suddenly big and empty house. It’s no wonder then that Byakuya has been awarded such high-level accommodations.

His footsteps echo softly on the stairs as he climbs down to the first floor, ready to at least inspect the place a little better. Yuzu has reassured him that the kitchen is her domain only, but the rest is free land.

Speaking of, he finds the girl at the kitchen counter when he enters the room. She is still in her pajamas and her hair is slightly in disarray, but what stands out are her soft sniffles and when she turns to greet him, Byakuya sees that her eyes are full of tears.

His steps falter, mostly because his mind jerks to a stop then and there.

This – _he is not equipped to deal with this._

People keep telling him that he’s emotionally constipated, but Byakuya sees no problem with minding his own business, emotions included, on his own. Letting everyone see what he thinks or feels every second of the day sounds incredibly exhausting, and not to mention stupidly dangerous, especially in their line of work.

Just look at what happened this time – traitors could be hiding anywhere, and they’d never know it until they decided to bust the royal realm open.

“Ah, good morning, Byakuya-san!” Yuzu shoots him a smile, but Byakuya is torn over whether to believe her that it is or not.

After a few aborted movements, he decides to come a little closer and, mustering up all of his calm and patience, he says.

“Are you alright, Yuzu?”

The girl looks up to him with such an incredible degree of confusion, as if it’s normal for her to cry in the kitchen at six-thirty in the morning. For his own peace of mind, Byakuya certainly hopes that it’s not.

With a heavy breath, he tries again.

“Why are you crying?”

Yuzu sniffles just then and finally realizes what he’s asking after because her eyes widen and, for a distressingly long moment, she remains silent.

Byakuya is just about ready to call for her sister when the girl bursts out laughing.

He might have made a big mistake coming here after all. As powerful a Shinigami as he is, dealing with two teenage girls seems to be beyond his capabilities. Rukia never had such a strange and confusing behavior, but then again, Byakuya evaded this particular responsibility during said period, so he shouldn’t talk.

He’s at his wits’ end, but miraculously, Yuzu curbs her laughter long enough to explain her morning mental breakdown to him.

“I wasn’t crying,” she turns and points to the cutting board in front of her and Byakuya sees the chopped onions scattered on its surface.

_Oh._

“Sorry if it seemed that way, but I’m fine, Byakuya-san!” The girl gestures to the kitchen table and adds. “I will bring you a cup of tea, it’s just about ready.”

“Why are you in here so early?” The captain finds himself asking as he disregards her offer and instead walks to the other side of the counter to watch her without getting in the way. “Cooking breakfast is not such a big affair.”

At least he thinks it’s not. Byakuya never cooked breakfast in his life.

Shit, maybe it _is_ a big affair and he sounded like an ignorant fool right now.

Even if she disagrees, Yuzu graciously glosses over the comment and returns to her onion.

“You’re right, but I usually prepare the ingredients for dinner. It’s easier for me this way.”

“So you do not mind waking up at such ‘ungodly hours’, as your sister puts it?”

Yuzu bursts into giggles.

“No, I don’t mind it at all! But don’t believe everything Karin-chan says – if there’s a football match the next day, she wakes up even earlier than me to warm up and practice.”

Byakuya offers no outward answer, he just simply continues watching her cook. There are many vegetables, chopped and gathered in a large bowl that Yuzu covers with a transparent plastic sheet. It is a strange invention, but it seems particularly useful in sealing the container and providing a window to see inside.

Once the ingredients for dinner are properly deposited, she takes out the fish and the salad ingredients and starts on breakfast. Byakuya takes a glance at the clock and sees that it is close to seven, which means that Karin should be up soon.

“Today is Friday, which means that Karin-chan and I will be at school for most of the day.” Yuzu explains to him as she cooks. “The school days usually start at eight-thirty and end around three. Karin-chan has football training after and I will go to the city center with some friends. We will probably be back home around six.”

That is… an incredibly long time that Byakuya would be alone in the house. Not that he minds it – he rather finds it good news – but he is a man that needs an occupation lest he goes insane. He will be done with cleaning the house and whatever other chores there are very fast.

At least he thinks so. Not once in his life did Byakuya clean his house.

“Morning.” Karin yawns widely and drops into a chair, looking one comfortable position away from falling back asleep.

Byakuya cannot even bother to answer in greeting, mostly because he is too preoccupied with being panicked and feeling a little overwhelmed by this foreign house, foreign town and foreign chores. 

Something must show on his face because Yuzu reaches out and pats his hand where it’s resting near his cup.

“Don’t worry, Byakuya-san. There are lots of interesting places around Karakura. You can visit a lot of museums and art galleries! And there are many shops-“

“He’s not here to be a tourist, Yuzu.” Karin groans and yawns again.

She is right, mostly. Byakuya will be making rounds around town at regular intervals in order to make sure that no Hollows come to be in their vicinity while they are out in the city.

“Byakuya-san’s got stuff to do.”

“Karin-chan,” Yuzu throws her sister a scolding look, “you can’t be seriously going to make Byakuya-san clean our house!”

“Of course, I can.” Karin stomps to the fridge and takes out a bottle filled with a red liquid. “He’s not a guest, so he’s got to make himself useful. It would be nice of him to take some of the load off your shoulders, you know?”

Byakuya’s gaze travels from Karin’s serious face to Yuzu’s chagrined one and he finally gets it.

Yuzu is the one who usually does everything around here, isn’t she?

Well, that isn’t going to cut it while Byakuya is staying in this house. She should have more time to go out with her friends, or whatever else she wishes to do.

He won’t even pretend to guess, but he will happily take that load if it means she will get more time for other activities.

“It is absolutely no problem.” He says to Yuzu. “Please explain what I need to do.” This is addressed to Karin, who smirks and nods.

“Byakuya-san…” Yuzu looks uncertain, but he will hear none of it. This sweet, nice girl deserves more time to live her life and even if she doesn’t like it, she won’t have any say in the matter.

At least, Byakuya knows how to order people around and organize the situation to obtain maximum efficiency.

Karin uses the time until breakfast is ready to explain to Byakuya how the human contraption known as a vacuum works, and how the invention called washing machine will make the clothes clean without him doing anything but pressing a suspiciously small amount of buttons.

She then proceeds to explain how some of the kitchen appliances work in case he wants to make himself something to eat.

“Oh, no!” Yuzu’s faces drains of all color. “I didn’t prepare you anything in advance for lunch.”

But Byakuya places a reassuring hand on her shoulder and tells her not to worry.

“I am a grown man, I will manage.” The captain says as he walks to answer the door, absently wondering who it could be this early in the morning.

He finds none other than captain Hitsugaya, sporting what looks like a school uniform and holding a book bag on one shoulder and a net bag with a football inside on the other.

The younger captain draws back in shock when he comes face to face with Byakuya, though he recovers his composure admirably fast.

“Captain Histugaya.” Byakuya greets the boy with a serious nod, mind whirling with the substantial amount of questions he has for his junior. 

“Captain Kuchiki.” Captain Hitsugaya greets him back, moving from one foot to the other impatiently. Byakuya wonders if he’s feeling unwell since he’s never seen the boy act this shifty before. “I didn’t know, uh, that you’re here.”

“The same can be said in my case. When did you arrive?”

“What’s going on here?” Karin pops out of the kitchen, chopsticks sticking out of her mouth.

Her eyebrows rise up on her forehead at the sight of the two captains awkwardly facing each other, one inside the house and one outside, right on the doorstep.

“Oh, Toshiro. Why are you standing out there?”

Immediately, Byakuya’s eyes narrow and align on the poor boy in front of him.

_‘Toshiro’?_

“I was,” _Toshiro_ starts, throwing a quick and uncharacteristically fearful glance at Byakuya, “speaking with captain Kuchiki about Soul Society stuff.”

That’s a nice way to put it, and the young captain seems incredibly eloquent today too.

Byakuya squares his shoulders and grants him mercy.

“Indeed.”

Karin hums and turns on her heels.

“Well don’t just stay there. Breakfast is going cold and we’re going to be late for school.”

Byakuya steps back and watches Toshiro like a hawk as the boy deposits his luggage, takes off his shoes and basically jogs into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Yuzu.”

“Morning, Toshiro-kun! I got you a new pickle jar, it’s in the fridge.”

Toshiro basically shrinks under Byakuya’s piercing stare, but he still goes to pick up his jar from the fridge.

The girls are acting as if the boy’s presence is a common thing at breakfast, which means that Byakuya has been left out of the loop. And if there is one thing that he hates, it is not being in the know.

“I suppose that captain Hitsugaya is accompanying you to school for extra protection?”

Toshiro chokes then, though Byakuya cannot pretend to understand why. Maybe it’s because of the pickles.

Karin, on the other hand, is completely unbothered.

“Toshiro isn’t our bodyguard or anything.” She answers, head leaning on her hand. “He goes to the same school we do.”

At this, Byakuya raises a regal – and dare he say, _threatening_ – eyebrow in the younger captain’s direction.

“ _School_?” He all but sneers.

“I’m still doing my duty in case a Hollow appears.” Toshiro rushes to defend his honor, though he seems uncharacteristically flustered and Byakuya is starting to catch up on the real reason behind all of this.

Which might explain why there is a sudden pulsing at the back of his head that will surely transform into a migraine before long.

“But in the rest of the time, he’s going to school like a normal kid.” Karin deadpans, mildly pleased to screw with Toshiro’s wellbeing before she attacks her meal with a vengeance.

“Why are you going to a human school in the human world like a human?”

On a normal day, Byakuya might say that there were one too many mentions of humans in his question, but today is certainly not a normal day. With each ‘human’ that Byakuya spits, Toshiro winces and slides down in his chair.

At least – _at least_ – he is there with the girls to protect them from the Hollows. This means that Byakuya’s schedule has been liberated quite a bit.

“Because I don’t have much of anything else to do.” Toshiro responds somewhat petulantly.

Byakuya leans back in his seat, content to hear out whatever explanation the boy decides to dish out. He’s starting to learn an array of interesting things about teenagers these days.

“Did Kyoraku-soutaichou also send you on a wild goose chase in the Gensei?”

To his shock, Toshiro shakes his head, and a dark expression overcomes his features while Karin starts to snicker.

“I would have certainly preferred that.” The young captain says dryly. “They decided to put me in charge of keeping an eye on Aizen.”

This time, it is Byakuya who chokes on his tea.

“And I’m not the only one. Matsumoto is on duty today.”

“Is it wise, letting Matsumoto Rangiku have a free hand in Aizen’s wellbeing?” Byakuya asks somewhat dubiously, but Toshiro just shrugs without much concern.

“We’ll see.”

A moment of silence passes before another question occurs to Byakuya.

“Where are you living, Hitsugaya-taichou?”

“In an apartment complex not far away from here. I was lucky that the landlady bought my sob story and I even got a discount for my room.”

“More like she’s trying to be your mother now.” Karin grins slyly at him and the boy rolls his eyes.

“Don’t remind me.”

But Byakuya is struck by a sudden revelation.

“With what money?” Apartments in the human world are insanely costly. “Do you split the amount with lieutenant Matsumoto?”

Toshiro grimaces, as if the very thought brings him pain.

“No, thank the spirit. She’s crashing at Orihime Inoue’s place for free because she has no conscience, I guess. And I used my own money, captain Kuchiki. I’ve got enough saved up to last me a while.”

Byakuya throws Karin a withering look.

“I thought you said that Soul Society money doesn’t work in the World of the Living.”

“They don’t.” Toshiro answers in her stead. “I exchanged our currency for the human currency at Urahara’s shop. Their rates are trash, but when you’ve got no other choice…”

Embarrassingly, Byakuya didn’t even consider the possibility of that. Too late now.

“I see.”

They eat the rest of the meal in silence and Byakuya makes sure that his stares are full of meaning and thoroughly register with Toshiro by the time the trio is prepared to take their leave.

Once the front door closes behind the kids, Byakuya sighs and turns back to the house at large, hands going to his hips in an attempt to stave off the yawning abyss looming ahead of him.

There are a million things to do, but he decides to start with the most critical task of washing the dishes. This, at least, he has done before.

When Hisana was in good health, she would sneak into the kitchens to try her hand at the different recipes she liked to gather, and most times Byakuya would join her just to watch her cook. She always hummed under her breath, a soothing sound that lulled him into a comfortable daze, and the wonderful aromas wafting around the kitchen only served to amplify that feeling of comfortable safety.

He would usually insist on cleaning up after they were done eating and, on rare occasions, Hisana let him.

Byakuya blinks away the haze of memories, closes the tap and dries his hands on a towel. Now that he is done with the easiest problem, he decides to start with the dusting, which means trying his hand at that vacuum contraption. He finds the sound abhorrent, but it does a surprisingly good job.

It’s a harder task than before, especially because the house is so large.

The captain shudders and resolutely refuses to think about the size of the Kuchiki manor and how long it would take to vacuum _that_ place.

It takes him almost twenty minutes to finish the whole first floor and then he has to lug the machine up the stairs, which brings him to wonder how Yuzu managed to do this all by herself. That vacuum is shockingly heavy and difficult to maneuver. It makes one spend quite a lot of energy on this seemingly trivial task.

The second floor goes even slower, but the process is surprisingly therapeutic. Byakuya can let his mind wander while doing this repetitive task without the danger of serious repercussions. If he tried such a thing during paperwork or, spirit forbid, a fight, he’d be done for.

He encounters two obstacles either way. One of them is in the form of an angry plushie dressed as a princess and shouting at the top of her lungs.

“I’m a boy, you bastard!”

Byakuya’s lips curl at Kon’s crude personality and he points the tip of the vacuum cleaner in his direction.

It turns out to be threatening enough for the mod soul to retreat for the moment, so Byakuya continues with his task of cleaning the girls’ room. It is bigger than he expected, but then again, they are two people, so they need as much space as possible.

Not surprisingly, Karin is as messy as her personality dictates. Yuzu’s things, while not without clutter, they are at least kept in a semblance of order.

Byakuya’s nose scrunches up when he almost vacuums something he shouldn’t once again. Turning off the hell trap, he turns in the direction of Kon’s hideout with a sigh.

“Come out, mod soul.”

“Name’s Kon, Kuchiki Byakuya.” Kon says derisively and Byakuya restrains himself from pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Would you please gather these objects so that I don’t vacuum them by accident, Kon?”

Kon crosses his arms, as if deliberating the pros and cons of helping the noble, and finally nods. He starts on his task without further word, much to Byakuya’s relief.

From there on, it is an easy job and before long, he is quietly staring at the last door in the house. The number fifteen hangs almost mockingly, barring his entrance from the room.

“You wanna go in there?”

Byakuya glances down at Kon and amends.

“I need to clean up. Or should I not?”

Kon ponders on this for a moment.

“I guess you can. They don’t want to go inside because they put Ichigo’s stuff in order to surprise him when he’s coming home. That room stayed a mess for _months_.”

The plushie latches on the doorknob and twists the handle, effectively opening the door.

A strange feeling of wrongness nags at the back of Byakuya’s mind, as if he is trespassing where he shouldn’t.

“Are you coming? It’s not that big, so it’s gonna be easy-peasy.”

With a deep breath, Byakuya places one foot inside the room.

The floorboards are slightly scuffed in some places but otherwise, the room doesn’t look half bad. It is marginally smaller than the twins’ room, with a bed propped up against the far wall under the window and a large dressing on the opposite side of the space. A desk and shelves holding books are stuffed between the two. To Byakuya’s left, another cabinet with shelves holding a plethora of Kurosaki Ichigo’s stuff is pulled up against the wall, and a musical instrument rests against it.

“That’s a guitar.” Kon points at the object informatively.

Byakuya refuses to look any further. He has no business intruding into Kurosaki Ichigo’s personal life, much less riffling through his stuff.

He is here for one thing only and he gets to it at once.

Kon is of much help and Byakuya is inwardly thankful. The mod soul is savvy enough with the workings of the house to be the perfect guide in the captain’s journey to deciphering the inner workings of a human household.

“Done.” Byakuya announces, mostly for his own benefit as he wipes at the beads of sweat on his forehead.

If there is one thing that this vacuum does for sure, it is that it makes an insane amount of heat.

He turns to Kon and finds that the plushie has opened the closet door and climbed inside. There is a suspicious sniffling coming from that direction and Byakuya doesn’t want to know, but something pushes him to walk closer.

“What are you doing in there?”

Kon wipes the non-existent tears from his beady eyes out of innate reflex.

“I just-“ And it’s an effort, but Kon gets there. “I just miss Nee-san!”

Byakuya watches the toy have a breakdown right then and there, and he finds himself at a loss for words for the second time today. His eyes fall on the contents of the closet, finding more than just blankets, pillows and Kurosaki’s clothes. There is a dress inside and another school uniform with a grey skirt, all arranged neatly and placed to the back. In the rightmost corner, three books and two notebooks are also arranged in a tight pile, colorful in their covers and visibly thumbed through.

Suddenly, the mystery of this ‘Nee-san’ character is elucidated, though Byakuya cannot say if it’s for the better or for worse.

He steps forward, a hand unconsciously going to touch the material of Rukia’s white dress shirt.

His mind goes to count the reasons why these should be in Kurosaki’s closet, but he strains not to allow it to dwell any further on the task. He trusts Rukia, she knows what she’s doing – she always has, even if she sometimes stumbled along the way. Whatever decision she takes, Byakuya will try to support it, but only if it’s not something ridiculous.

He already knows what the deal between his sister and Ichigo is. So this discovery should be nothing new, though it does constitute as tangible proof of his knowledge, and maybe that’s what sits wrong with him.

Byakuya needs time, he realizes. Falling at peace with this thought is going to take patience and a lot of anger management sessions but hopefully, Ichigo will also be less of a little asshole when he comes back, and then they can work something out.

With a long exhale, Byakuya steps away from the closet, but not before he picks Kon up by his head and closes the door carefully. 

“Come, I want you to explain how the machine that washes clothes works.”

* * *

Turns out that Kon has no idea, even if he’s been inside the thing a couple of times before.

Byakuya directed his disgust towards something more productive, though. He asked the toy where the closest store is and, once he had his directions, the captain embarked on his journey.

Kon’s instructions bring him to a large building advertising its existence as a supermarket with the lowest prices one can ever find.

Byakuya snorts at the sheer deceit they dare expose without any inhibition.

The array of products is fine, but there are too many packed things and too little that actually look appetizing. Byakuya searches for the farm-grown ones, but they have the biggest prices.

He frowns down at the package, wondering how such a thing is possible when in the Soul Society, farm-grown animals are the cheapest. Those grown in special cages made by the twelfth division are more expensive, but Byakuya never did appreciate the taste of that meat.

“Do you need any help, young man?”

There is an old lady at his side, smiling friendly. Byakuya cannot detect any hint of deceit, though he wonders why she thinks that he needs help.

To the lady’s defense, when she saw the young man with long hair having a staring contest with the package of chicken and glaring at it like it just personally offended him, she decided to offer a helping hand because more often than not, that turns out to be the case.

“Why is this so expensive?” Byakuya swallows his pride and demands. “Farm animals should be cheaper.”

The lady blinks and shakes her head minutely.

“In the countryside maybe, but usually these kinds of shops will put a higher price tag on this kind of meat.”

Byakuya dignifies that with a derisive sniff and places back the package, certainly not pleased with his findings.

“You should try this one, it is good in both price and quality.” The old lady is still here and handing him another wrapped package.

Byakuya accepts it because what else is he supposed to do? He’s not about to stand around and judge an old lady on things he doesn’t even understand well.

“Come, what else do you need?”

Either he looks like he’s in desperate need of a guiding hand, or the older lady likes him enough to waste her time instructing him what a can of corn should and should not contain. Whatever the case, Byakuya has completed the list that Yuzu hung on the fridge’s door and he feels victorious about it.

“Thank you for your kind help.”

The woman waves his gratitude away and grins.

“No worries, dear! I’m glad that I could help. You seem new in town, so if you have any other questions, you can go ahead and ask.”

Byakuya starts to nod before it occurs to him that he does have a list of unanswered questions that, he fears, not even the girls can. This woman has lived here for a long time and this is exactly who Byakuya needs – a resident who knows every nook and cranny of Karakura town.

“Actually, I may have a couple of questions.”

The old woman lifts her bulging bag in his direction and Byakuya resigns himself to carrying both.

“Shoot, young man.” She says as they start walking in a seemingly random direction.

Byakuya should do well to remember the way back home.

“How do you work a washing clothes machine?”

He decides to start with the basics first.

* * *

**2 days later**

* * *

“What did you _do_?!”

Kon lifts his head from the table at Karin’s furious question.

Byakuya turns away from the kitchen sink, smoothly raises an eyebrow and asks, even as his hands never once pause in their task of drying the freshly washed dishes.

“If it is about the so-called ‘laundry’, I am quite certain that nothing got ‘colored’ or ‘shrunk’.”

The girl’s mouth opens and closes for a long moment before she shakes her head and goes back to her original train of thought.

“That’s not what I was mad about! Some old women in the neighborhood stopped to congratulate us!”

This particular piece of juicy information causes Kon to jump on the kitchen table and waddle closer to the two.

Byakuya looks at her impassively.

“Congratulate you for what?”

Karin touches two fingers to her forehead, obviously realizing that Byakuya didn’t even know what he set into motion through the neighborhood.

A complete and utter disaster this is.

The older twin starts speaking just as Yuzu enters the room with a tight smile on her lips. Kon realizes that the young girl is struggling to reign in her laughter rather than being sad or concerned about whatever Karin is so mad about.

“Three old women stopped us two streets away because they wanted to congratulate us for Ichi-nii’s _engagement_ to _your sister_ and then another two that live just down the street asked us when the _wedding_ is going to be!”

The words such as ‘wedding’ and ‘engagement’ twist Karin’s lips into a grimace.

Byakuya stills because his mind needs more than one moment to process what she just said.

Seeing as her sister practically broke the man, Yuzu gingerly takes a step forward.

“Byakuya-san,” she begins gently, hands flying behind her back, “what exactly did you say to Sakazuki-obaa-san?”

“I,” Byakuya falters, trying to remember what, indeed, he said to the woman who had helped him out at the supermarket and patiently explained to him that _no, you should not put together black and white clothes_.

“She asked me where I am living, and I told her that I’m currently staying at your house. Then she launched into a spiel about how smart and kind Kurosaki Ichigo is that I steadfastly ignored. Next thing I know, she’s asking if I’m your relative.”

“And, of course, you couldn’t say yes!” Karin exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air.

“I don’t indulge in lying through my teeth.” Byakuya glares, even as in reality he had panicked and said the first thing that came to his mind.

“What did you answer her then?” Yuzu prompts and Byakuya sighs, turning to deposit the dry plate on the rack and pick up another one.

“That I am Rukia’s brother, which brought her to the realization that she’s met my sister before and that she knows she’s been living with you. Then she launched into a spiel about how nice and kind Rukia was to help her out in the past, which I listened to this time, and then she remarked that there seems to be a big age difference between us,” spirit only knows that is _incredibly_ on the nose, “and then she tried to start again about responsible parents and on how siblings should be closer in age,” at which point Byakuya panicked again, “so I cleared my throat and tried to tell her that I was actually Rukia’s brother-in-law.”

Karin drapes a hand over her eyes at the same time that Yuzu releases a short chuckle. Kon doesn’t have the same qualms and bursts out into merry laughter.

Byakuya’s mouth thins until it almost disappears from his face. Now that he’s told them about the conversation, he realizes what might have gone wrong.

“But I suppose that she understood that I am Rukia’s brother and Kurosaki’s brother-in-law,” the captain swallows back the bile rising in his throat. Revulsion swims through his veins, even as something at the back of his mind whispers that in another three decades at most, this unfortunate farce is going to become reality, “and thought that those two are engaged.”

“And then she told the whole neighborhood and their sisters!” Karin barks.

Kon falls down on the table, clutching his fluffy belly as he continues to laugh.

Byakuya would have pinched the bridge of his nose, was he not holding a delicate glass bowl.

“It’s alright, don’t worry!” Yuzu tries to reassure him, much to her sister’s scandalous expression. “Nothing bad happened and nothing was destroyed. It’s just a funny situation, in the end!”

“Maybe for you! I don’t want people to keep stopping me and ask about the wedding.” Karin purses her lips indignantly.

Yuzu’s eyes slit mischievously.

“Oh, I’m sure you’re sick of it. Especially when they’re also stopping you to ask if Toshiro-kun is your boyfriend and to coo over the two of you.”

Karin attains a color close to the tomato sauce named ketchup that she splatters over any dish she can. Kon’s laughter increases even more and Byakuya’s lips quirk up into the shadow of a smile.

The girl’s glare doubles on all three traitors as she retreats to lick her wounds.

“I will remember this!” Her shout barely reaches past Kon’s laughter.

Yuzu shakes her head with a fond smile.

“Don’t worry much about it, Byakuya-san. Our neighbors are inoffensive most of the time.” She lifts a finger in warning. “Just don’t promise to accompany them to the weekly market! It took dad six months of faking an excuse to get them to believe it.”

Byakuya nods gravely.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just couldn't help it... when byakuya and domestic chores miraculously come into play at the same time, you just have to run with it  
> and damn if i didn't have a lot of fun 
> 
> i hope you guys enjoy it as well!


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

He keeps his promise for the next three days until he meets Sakazuki-san again on his way to the supermarket.

It’s a Sunday today, which means that both girls are sleeping in and no formal breakfast has to be had. Byakuya is egregiously bad at sleeping late, so he had to make his own breakfast at seven in the morning but, to his surprise and pride, it turned out rather delicious.

It was during said preparation that he observed the items missing from the refrigerator so, without anything else to do, he decided to make a quick trip to the supermarket.

Back in his first few days here, Byakuya found out, to his complete shock, that these shops are almost always open. It seems both exaggerated, and yet so very convenient at the same time.

Incredible what the modern Gensei is capable of.

“You are up early, Byakuya-chan.”

Byakuya keeps his face blank, even as on the inside his first instinct is to bristle at the diminutive. But then he really looks at the old, frail woman in front of him and all his irritation flies out of the window.

“Sakazuki-san.” He inclines his head, but the old woman bats his polite greeting away.

“I told you to calm me Akiko. Where are you heading so early on a Sunday?”

“To the supermarket. We are missing some things from the fridge.”

Sakazuki-san’s eyes widen to concerning proportions and she smiles.

“Oh, you don’t want to be going there _today._ I’ve got an even better idea for you, Byakuya-chan!”

She drags him away and Byakuya can do nothing but follow meekly behind, mostly because he won’t be fighting with an old woman. Spirit knows where she’s taking him, but the captain is equipped to face anything, so he is not much afraid as he is exasperated.

Especially because they aren’t making much headway to begin with.

With a sigh, Byakuya gently disentangles the fingers around his wrist, signaling that he’s not about to run away, and reaches out to take the shopping trolley from her other hand.

“Where is it that we are going, Sakazuki-san?”

Sakazuki’s glare is sharp and reproachful. Byakuya bites the inside of his cheek, knowing that his ancestors are going to kill him when he’s dead.

“Akiko-san.”

A sigh is his only answer, but he doesn’t have to wait long. The side street they took opens up into a large square, and Byakuya’s eyes widen when he sees the substantial crowd gathered at the small stalls that line the space from one side to the other in rows. Large umbrellas shield them from the rain and wind.

He counts countless types of vegetables, sees cheese and meat lined up in proper cooling containers. There are even clothes and household articles being sold. Byakuya’s never seen this many types of bread in his life.

“This is the weekend market, dear. Fresh produce from farmers at very good prices. I’d recommend you replenish your supplies here for the rest of the week.” Sakazuki shakes her head, purposefully walking to one of the stall rows. “Everything you find here is three times more expensive in those dreadful stores.”

Jaw hanging open, Byakuya assists Sakazuki as she starts to complete the substantial list that she compiled home. The farmers at the counter always greet them with a smile and never hesitate to explain the origin of their products or share different kinds of delicious recipes from their family.

It is almost surreal, this bubble of space untouched by any evil chemical spray – Byakuya’s entire world shattered when he had watched that documentary on the television set. Karin had complained about being bored the whole two hours, but Byakuya took notes and Yuzu enjoyed it, declaring it interesting and informative.

“So what do you need, dear?”

Sakazuki’s voice snaps him out of whatever reverie he was in the middle of, and the man looks around critically, trying to make a plan of action. There is one shopping trolley that Sakazuki has almost filled, though Byakuya bets that there will be some space left.

Which leaves him with the possibility to buy _even more_ stuff.

Byakuya clears his throat and gestures to the nearest fruit stand.

“Apples and peaches first,” Yuzu wanted to try her hand at a new fruit tart, “then I will need the salad and tomatoes, along with those purple ones,”

“The eggplants.” Sakazuki supplies patiently.

Byakuya inclines his head.

“Maybe some of the green ones, both types.” He’s mumbling now, but that doesn’t stop him from wasting the money he exchanged back at Urahara’s on what he needs and more.

He buys one of those long, slim loaves of bread because he is curious to see how it tastes. There is a type of sweet, smaller ones, curved like a crescent moon that Sakazuki excitedly recommends and Byakuya complies. He gets three different types of cheeses that look slightly strange but is assured that they taste amazing.

Lastly, his eyes zero in on his last target – the meat stall that caught his attention when they arrived at the market. With newfound energy, Byakuya starts forward, leaving Sakazuki to look over the bulging shopping trolley. His hands are full of bags as well, but they aren’t as horribly heavy as he’d thought, but that does not mean that they do not represent a hazard.

Especially when, in his hurry and concentration, he collides with someone coming from an awkward angle that hid Byakuya’s presence until much too late.

The impact isn’t that bad, but it is irritating enough to have the captain look up with a scowl that dissipates into an outright sneer.

“Captain Kuchiki, such a delight to see you again.” Aizen smirks, looking frustratingly banal in the crowd. A wolf, dressed in human clothes. “And _here_ of all places.”

The man looks positively elated to find Byakuya in such a setting, so much so that he seems to be forgetting that he is here too.

“You took the words right out of my mouth. What are you doing here?”

Aizen lifts his own shopping bags pointedly.

“Weekend shopping.”

“Oh my, are you alright, Byakuya-chan?” Sakazuki finally catches up to them. Her expression is worried as he checks both men up and down for any injuries.

Aizen’s lips lift impossibly higher, and he almost looks like the madman that he really is.

“My apologies. I seem to have bumped into Kuchiki-san by accident.”

Sakazuki’s eyes sparkle with realization and Byakuya is suddenly afraid.

“You two know each other, that’s such a nice coincidence!” The woman is obviously delighted. Byakuya, less so.

“We are just acquaintances. Anyway, we should go-“

“I thought that Byakuya-chan only had his sister and her in-laws in town. It’s good to see that you have more friends, dear.”

Aizen is on the verge of lung collapse from keeping his laughter back, and Byakuya wishes him good riddance. It would be too good to have the bastard die right now. The sixth division captain wouldn’t be rushing to call any ambulance, that is for certain.

“His sister and her in-laws?” Aizen repeats in a mild tone, though the situation is quite obvious to Byakuya and his alarm only grows when Sakazuki beams at him.

Only the noble manners instilled into him and his perfect composure stop him now from wringing Aizen’s neck right in the middle of the marketplace.

“Oh, yes! Byakuya-chan’s sister, Rukia, she is marrying that Kurosaki boy.”

Which brings Byakuya to half-heartedly wonder if this woman and her gang of gaggling friends even know Kurosaki Ichigo’s correct age.

Aizen delicately chokes on his own spit and Byakuya’s expression darkens to a terrifying degree, daring him to comment something uncouth or destroy whatever illusion Sakazuki has constructed around herself, if only to keep her happy.

“They are not in town right now, so Byakuya is looking over Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan.”

“I see.” Aizen’s voice warbles and his lips twitch a little insanely. Byakuya wonders how Sakazuki doesn’t notice it. “That is very nice of him, indeed.”

“Where do you know each other from, mister…?”

Aizen bows shallowly, though still politely enough.

“Aizen Sousuke. Kuchiki-san and I are,”

Byakuya clears his throat pointedly.

“Old work colleagues at our job in,”

Aizen’s eyebrows rise incrementally.

Byakuya, rightfully, panics.

“Kyoto.”

The look the evil mastermind throws him is incredulous.

“Right.” Aizen prudently agrees. “But I had to move back to Karakura after my mother died. I do not regret it, though.”

The way his lying words spill through his teeth without a hitch makes the disgust grow in Byakuya, but Sakazuki nods sympathetically and pats his arm in consolation.

Then Aizen turns to him and Byakuya’s muscles tense in anticipation of the next salve of attacks.

“Though I did not know that your sister and Kurosaki Ichigo are going to get married. Congratulations.”

Byakuya disguises his growl with a short huff.

“They have just gotten engaged. Marriage is a long way off.”

“Not as far away as you think.” And it is quite obvious that Aizen is having the time of his life.

Byakuya doesn’t even attempt to hide his glare this time around. He puts out a hand to guide Sakazuki away from the ticking bomb of psychological torture dressed in dark jeans and a grey shirt, all the while never taking his eyes off Aizen.

“We should get going. I have to bring back all the ingredients in time for lunch.”

Sakazuki makes an aborted noise of acknowledgment.

Aizen bows his head at the old woman.

“My apologies for detaining you.” Then his gaze meets Byakuya’s and the captain’s jaw clenches. “I suppose that I will see you soon then, Kuchiki-san. I am still struggling to convince Matsumoto-san to let me visit, but it won’t be long now.”

Byakuya doesn’t know if he is glad for Matsumoto-fukutaichou’s steadfastness or her stubbornness, but either way, she has his respect.

“Take your time.” He spits in Aizen’s direction before he herds Sakazuki and the trolley to the meat stand, where he proceeds to wrestle one whole chicken for half the price _and_ somehow convinces the owner to let him place an order for next week.

Aizen’s abrupt appearance notwithstanding, it was a productive morning.

* * *

Byakuya returns home with hands full of countless bags and a feeling of accomplishment like no other.

“What the fu-“

“Karin-chan!” Yuzu scolds her sister with a glare.

Next to the girls, Toshiro gapes like one of the koi fish in the Kuchiki manor’s pond.

“Look at him!”

Karin extends a hand to underline her exclamation, but Byakuya has since learned not to take her words at face value. Much like her brother, though this one is even less able to properly expose her emotions, she likes to exaggerate. Byakuya might not be one to speak about such things either, which is why his respect for her only grows.

“I went shopping.” The noble explains unhelpfully. “I saw that there were some things missing from the fridge.”

“That don’t look like supermarket bags to me.” Karin is set to make his life hard today.

The captain wonders how she could wake up on the wrong side of the bed today when she’s had all morning to change it.

“That is because I went to the market with Sakazuki-san.”

Immediately, Karin’s face falls, but Yuzu only laughs and shakes her head.

“Couldn’t escape forever.” She murmurs in amusement to her sister and steps forward to help Byakuya with some of his load. “But thanks, Byakuya-san, these look amazing!”

Byakuya nods, proud that his efforts have been recognized.

“The market produce is certainly better than what I’ve seen in the supermarket. I wanted to suggest that you make a large list for every end of the week and, should we need something desperately, we can buy it from a store.”

Yuzu nods happily, but Karin still looks incredulous as they all filter into the kitchen. Byakuya takes a seat at the table, surprisingly worn-out by his shopping trip and the younger captain joins him.

Toshiro, on the other hand, seems to be in shock. Byakuya hopes that he did not kill the young man, otherwise Matsumoto-fukutaichou will have his head.

“I met Aizen there.”

The simple statement has a conflicting effect on his fellow captain. While the girls simply nod and shrug off the information, Toshiro is simultaneously struck from both sides by two incredible notions that just grip his brain tightly, trying their best to suffocate him.

Firstly, Aizen’s mere mention brings a wave of revulsion over him, but it is shadowed by his extensive concern over his lieutenant’s well-being, even though the woman has reassured him that she can handle the powerless bastard.

Secondly, captain Kuchiki – who was out at the market _shopping_ – met Aizen there, which means that the man was also _shopping_ _at the market_.

Do you see how this is complicated yet?

“Uh,” it is not Toshiro’s most articulate reply, but he does his best under the circumstances, “did he say something?”

Truthfully, Toshiro doesn’t really care, but he needs more time to gather back his exploded composure.

Byakuya’s lips twitch with displeasure at the mere memory of that disastrous discussion.

Karin slips into a seat and raises an eyebrow, inviting him to collaborate.

“Only that he will try to visit soon. Sakazuki-san also let it slip about the wedding.”

In retrospect, Byakuya’s mouth might have run off unchecked.

He looks with mild concern as captain Histugaya’s brain basically shuts down and restarts. The process can be glimpsed with alarming clarity, and the older man leans back in his seat, hoping that if he waits long enough, Toshiro will return to himself in due time.

“That sucks, but whatever.” Karin crosses her arms over her chest and blows a breath out of her mouth. “It’s not like the whole neighborhood doesn’t already know anyway.”

“Wedding?” Toshiro speaks the foreign word as if he’s never heard of it before. “What wedding?”

Yuzu pats the boy on the back, obviously a little worried by the lack of vocal reactions.

“There was a misunderstanding between Byakuya-san and one of our neighbors. Now Sakazuki-san thinks that Rukia-chan and Onii-chan are getting married!”

Toshiro’s face vapidly depicts all that Byakuya’s wanted to say from day one, and he takes pleasure in the knowledge that he is not the only sane person here, though the boy’s shock does not last much longer. In its stead, a smile blooms and he starts to laugh, much to the noble’s displeasure.

“My apologies, captain Kuchiki, but this is too funny!” Toshiro snickers, head on the table behind his plate and bowl.

“I can see that.”

Byakuya answers dryly and looks up to the heavens for guidance – not the Soul Society though. He hopes that there is something metaphysical even beyond that because otherwise, they are patently screwed. But instead of that, he comes face to face with a smiling woman.

It is a poster, he realizes belatedly, and a rather garish one at that. Smack in the middle of it, Kurosaki Masaki smiles widely, warmly.

It is as strange as he’d expected it to be, and he’s rather surprised that he didn’t notice it much sooner.

“Why is there a poster of your mother in the kitchen?”

“It’s in the living room.” Karin corrects because Byakuya cannot quite get used to the idea that the kitchen and the living room are one and the same, yet they still have different names and an invisible line dividing them. “And blame goat face for that. He insists on keeping it up there.”

Byakuya’s lips purse and he feels captain Hitsugaya’s gaze resting heavily on him, daring him to comment. Karin, on the other hand, is more on the older man’s wavelength.

“You want to say something, so say it.” The girl almost urges and Byakuya sighs.

“I do not presume to know your family’s rapport with each other, but to me, this is rather dishonorable and in bad taste. Those departed should be treated with more respect. I suppose that Kurosaki Isshin didn’t deign to build a shrine for your mother either.”

Karin has been nodding all along, but she stops at the last comment, hesitating.

“Not really, but a shrine seems kind of excessive too. Mom was never one for explosive displays. I’m sure she won’t mind with just a few things instead of the usual load.”

Byakuya turns to her, protest written all over his face, but Karin is resolved to fight him on this to the end.

“So does that mean that I can take off that poster?” She asks with giddiness, much to Yuzu’s displeasure.

“But!” The younger girl starts to argue, though she is somewhat mollified when both Karin and Byakuya promise her that they will build something else for Masaki – something between a shrine and Karin’s idea of simplicity – and Yuzu accepts this with the condition that she will be the one to have the final say.

Crisis averted, Byakuya receives a nod of approval from the other captain in the room before the boy returns to his food.

Ever since he arrived at the Kurosaki household, it seems like there’s always something to be done.

Byakuya picks up his chopsticks and prays for a peaceful meal, at least.

* * *

One day later, when the girls are at school and Byakuya is into some deep cleaning in one of the bathrooms following both Sakazuki-san and Yuzu’s careful instructions, the doorbell rings.

Byakuya promptly found out that he is not a fan of bathroom cleaning, but as with all physical tasks that involve cleaning one’s dwelling, he finds the repetitiveness of it soothing.

His tranquillity disrupted, he goes to answer it without removing his apron or his pink rubber gloves, promising himself to bring about incredible pain to the one who dares to disrupt him in the middle of his work. Blithely, he half hopes it’s Aizen on the other side of the door.

Turns out that it’s not Aizen, much to the unknown disappointment of a lot more people than just Byakuya.

When the sixth division captain throws the door open, he comes face to face with his lieutenant.

Renji blinks once, twice at his captain’s appearance, struggling to comprehend the sheer glory of the Kuchiki clan head in a frilly apron, hair tied up in a low ponytail and wearing pink rubber gloves.

“Kuchiki-taichou!” The man salutes faintly.

Byakuya nods back in greeting. “Renji. What are you doing here?”

He steps back to allow the man entrance into the house. Renji sways on his feet at the first step, but steadily regains his balance as he deposits his shoes and takes a seat on the couch in the hybrid kitchen-living room.

“I decided that there’s no need for me to stay in Hueco Mundo, either. Those guys seemed to have everything down pat. There was less fighting than I remembered.” Renji jokes lamely and Byakuya ignores it.

When his captain continues to be silent, the other man shrugs.

“So I decided to go back to the Soul Society, but just as I was stepping out of the Senkaimon, Iba-san was there to turn me back. He said that I’m not welcome in the Seiretei anymore and that I should head to the Gensei before Soi-Fon-taichou catches wind that one of the traitors is back.”

“So that woman is out of the hospital.” Byakuya says dryly. “Joy.”

That one word is even drier.

Renji rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“Captain, do you know what will happen to us? Are we exiled forever or something?”

It is as close to panic as Renji’s reckless ass can come.

“I doubt it, Renji. We are too important in the chain of command for Kyoraku to risk exiling us forever.” Not to mention that he will probably have an uprising of the lower ranks on his hands if that happens. “But for the moment, they think that by sending us here they are punishing us.”

Renji’s face falls, but Byakuya has long since gotten used to the idea.

He turns on his heel, heading for the kitchen to shed his equipment and bring up some tea.

There’s silence for a while until Renji speaks, voice uncertain but lined with a suspiciously large amount of curiosity.

“So what are you doing here, captain?”

Byakuya turns his head just so his lieutenant could see his raised brow.

“You didn’t know that I was here?”

Renji sits a bit straighter. “Yoruichi-san told me, but she said nothing else on the matter. I was surprised to hear that you were at the Kurosaki house at all, but you seem to, _uh_ , be living here.”

“I am.” And Renji does a double-take, which confuses Byakuya. “Yuzu and Karin were nice enough to offer me a room here, though I have to pull my weight when it comes to it.”

The lieutenant’s eyes flick to the discarded apron and gloves.

“Nothing I cannot handle.” The captain declares, more for his own benefit than for Renji’s.

“I-I see.”

“Where will you be staying, Renji?”

The man looks stuck for a second, and this answers Byakuya’s question with a resounding ‘I don’t know’.

“You could try to ask that werecat for a _futon_ at the shop.”

Renji rubs his chin thoughtfully before nodding. He gratefully accepts the steaming cup of tea that Byakuya brings to him before taking a seat on one of the armchairs.

“Besides you and me, there is also captain Histugaya and Matsumoto-fukutaichou here.”

The lieutenant seems surprised by the admission.

“Currently, the two of them are supervising Aizen, but I would recommend that you join them on the job if you have nothing else to do.”

“What exactly does ‘supervising Aizen’ entails, captain?” Renji is wary, good for him.

Byakuya’s lips purse.

“Mostly keeping an eye on him in his daily activities. But also sometimes interacting with him, I suppose. I’ve yet to meet Matsumoto-fukutaichou in person, but captain Hitsugaya is here very often and at school protecting the twins.”

“I see.” Renji nods seriously, as if he’s figured it out. “They are low on manpower. Leave it to me, captain! I will definitely sign up to help them spy on Aizen.”

It is not exactly _spying_ when the man is well aware of it, but his lieutenant has got the right spirit. Byakuya also thinks that Matsumoto-fukutaichou will be delighted for a change in scenery.

* * *

One week passes since his talk with Renji. Byakuya keeps himself occupied with menial house chores, grocery shopping and helping Sakazuki-san if she needs something fixed inside the house or she gets stuck in her garden again.

Byakuya is not a wiz at fixing stuff either, but with Yuzu’s help, he searches for the answers to his questions on the strange screen with the internet, and surprisingly finds everything he needs.

He even finds a new supermarket, at the other end of their street and much better supplied and priced than their usual one. Byakuya takes that victory with much gusto, much to, he suspects, his lieutenant’s amusement.

Sunday market is an experience, as per usual.

Yuzu joins him this week, eager to see the place for herself, to feel the tranquil atmosphere that Byakuya spoke of. He is happy to bring her along, but Sakazuki-san is _ecstatic_ that the young girl joined them.

The old woman is usually very talkative, but today when she has an equally vocal partner, the conversation doesn’t stop for the whole way to the market. Byakuya uses the time to parse their surroundings, grudgingly sending an imaginary nod of approval to captain Hitsugaya, Matsumoto-fukutaichou and Zennosuke Kurumadani for the good job they do in taking care of the materializing Hollows.

Granted, their number steadily decreased from the last time he was in Karakura. There is also something in the air, a peculiar and fresh feeling of _something_ that Byakuya still struggles to decipher. Renji was useless in helping out, but captain Hitsugaya confirmed that he also feels whatever Byakuya has managed to identify but not yet put into words.

The wind is blowing, and snow hits the pavement, building up in piles. The strange nagging at the back of his mind increases.

It’s with a deep inhale that Byakuya realizes it.

The spirit mile that Karakura town has been caught up in for the better part of two decades is starting to slowly move away. A lengthy process and none of the current citizens might still be alive to catch the process’ end, but the spiritual membrane will surely move away in a couple of hundred years to another location in the eastern part of the world.

_Change is good_ , Byakuya sends his silent approval to the heavens, _and it is for the best._

He looks down from the clouded sky at Yuzu’s shout of delight, both about the snow and the market.

Their shopping trip is not interrupted so abruptly this time, but it _is_ indeed disrupted by Aizen’s unwelcome appearance. If Byakuya didn’t know any better, he’d think that the man will stoop so low as to come to the market just to see them.

_Or maybe –_

“Aizen-san!” Yuzu greets the madman too politely for Byakuya’s taste, so he makes sure to drag her behind him, much to the young girl’s confusion.

“There is no need for that, Kuchiki-taichou. Yuzu has managed to win both my respect and my admiration when she figured out a loophole that I overlooked.”

Yuzu beams proudly, but Byakuya is not about to take his word without a grain of salt. Either way, he relaxes slightly and lets Sakazuki-san, Yuzu and Aizen talk at their leisure.

In the meanwhile, his gaze flicks about the square until, finally, he finds the person he’s been looking for.

Matsumoto Rangiku nods in his direction, sheltered between two stalls that sell clothes and meaningless accessories. Byakuya nods in return and makes a split-second decision to jut his chin in an invitation to come forward.

The lieutenant seems torn, but he continues to stare at her pointedly, so she complies and shuffles forward until she’s at the periphery of their little group.

“Matsumoto-fukutaichou.” Byakuya greets the fashionably dressed woman. She looks more appropriate for those glittering shows that Yuzu likes to watch than at the Sunday market.

“Kuchiki-taichou, good morning.” Rangiku offers a smile before turning to the other two.

Aizen is promptly ignored, Yuzu is enthusiastic to see the woman again and Sakazuki-san – well, she is appropriately elated to meet her.

“You are so beautiful, my dear! Are you perhaps Sousuke-san’s girlfriend?”

Rangiku appropriately bites her tongue, paling with horror and even Aizen looks a little green in the face.

“Not at all, Sakazuki-san. We are just old acquaintances.”

But Sakazuki is not cowed by the answer. Obviously, she turns to Byakuya then.

“Is she your girlfriend then?”

Byakuya inwardly sighs. There is no winning with old women.

“No, Akiko-san. Matsumoto-san is an old colleague from work. She is in town to visit her cousin and Aizen decided that it would be a good idea for all of us to meet up.”

Aizen raises an eyebrow, slightly impressed with the improvement in his lying capabilities. Matsumoto’s lips curve upwards, though the smile is tight and trembling with tension at the edges.

“Rangiku-san, Aizen-san, please join us for lunch! Toshiro-kun is with Karin to soccer practice and promised that he’d come as well.”

In the face of Yuzu’s doe-like eyes, there is no contest.

Rangiku graciously accepts. Aizen, looking his version of delighted, also nods in agreement. Byakuya schools his expression into something less vicious and reigns in his need to punch the madman’s smug smirk away.

“Oh, that’s so nice! What are you planning to make for lunch, Yuzu-chan? I’m dying to hear some new recipes…”

Byakuya lets the conversation wash over him again, but this time he’s got one more occupation than choosing the best tomatoes. He keeps tabs on Aizen from the corner of his eyes and he finds that Matsumoto is also doing so from the other side of the aisle.

Nothing he does will pass by them without notice, they won’t let it.

* * *

“ _You_.” Karin exhales, long and hard. She’s too tired to properly complain about Aizen and she’s too lazy to go scold her sister and Byakuya.

The only thing she can do is watch as Aizen takes a seat at the table, under the scorching hate of three glares, two of which are coming from the Shinigami that were at the site of the disaster and could have stopped it before it devolved into _this._

But they didn’t – and now they have to reap the fruits of their stupid efforts.

“Karin.” Aizen watches the girl askance and amused. “You seem tired.”

She quirks an eyebrow, but nonetheless answers.

“We had soccer practice today.”

“We…” The former Shinigami murmurs, eyes dancing over the gathered heads and stopping on captain Hitsugaya. A smirk crawls to his lips. “I see.”

“You see what?” Karin doesn’t beat around the bush. She’s seen where his eyes have stopped and she doesn’t like what he’s insinuating.

But Aizen is not one to _insinuate_ anything. He simply observes, he investigates, and he deals with the resulting matter accordingly. If there is anything that looks wrong, it’s not on _him_.

“I see that you have becomes quite attached to the tenth division captain.” Aizen says lowly, not willing to be overheard.

Karin’s eyes narrow further, and she petulantly crosses her arms over her chest.

“We are friends.”

Aizen deals her a look she thought him incapable of. He looks like an incredulous parent right now.

“Certainly. And yet your crush is as obvious as any Hollow walking down the street.”

“There’s a Hollow down the street?” Yuzu all but yelps, thankfully catching only Aizen’s last words.

“No there isn’t, Yuzu.” Karin glares at the madman. “Aizen’s just making himself look like an idiot.”

The complacent curve of the man’s lips never wavers.

“I strongly believe that I’m not the only one.”

They lapse into silence, Karin glaring and Aizen watching her in turn with amusement.

Yuzu shakes her head and leaves after she has deposited their bowls of soup.

“Deny it all you want, but in the end, you will come to regret your continuous hesitation, Karin.” Aizen finally breaks the tension, looking down at his nails as if he’s got better things to do. “Don’t forget that captain Hitsugaya will soon return to the Soul Society. If you’re lucky, you will be able to see him after you die.”

Karin’s jaw clenches and her lips press together tightly, trying to keep back the growl and the swear words she wants to shout at the man. It’s not a good setting at lunch, especially not with so many people.

Besides, Aizen is right.

But she knew that already, didn’t she?

Toshiro will go back to the Soul Society as soon as Ichi-nii will be back. Soon, Karin will have to exchange one thing for the other. And then who knows when they will see each other again?

She has a crush, _fine_. She can accept that to herself. Karin’s never been one to beat around the bush, even with her own feelings. But that does not mean squat if she doesn’t act on them.

It is a conundrum, and Karin is too inexperienced, too scared and too troubled to make any long-term decisions right now. Too many things have happened that left scars, left fears and, most of all, left loneliness in their wake.

She is scared and that puts a complete stop to every other train of thought on that particular subject.

With a sigh, she grips reproachingly at the crazy man in front of her.

“You should mind your own business, Aizen.”

He has the gall to _chuckle_ at her _._

“Unfortunately for you, I have no interesting business currently going on.”

“So you just decided that my personal life was going to be your business?”

“No, I just decided that I won’t watch a second multi-dimensional disaster unfold right in front of my eyes.”

When Karin only continues to look at him with confusion, Aizen elaborates.

“Your brother is enough of an example. Moving heaven and hell just to save one woman _and_ succeeding. He was my experiment, but even I believed that he would ultimately fail.”

Karin swallows and licks her lips. She offers no answers and instead ducks her head and remains silent for the rest of the dinner.

* * *

Three more weeks pass in short order and life seems to be stuck on a smooth, straight line.

Byakuya cannot be more thankful.

The days might sometimes blend together, but it is a much better feeling than never knowing what might come next. Besides, the constant flux of people in and out of the Kurosaki household is enough to keep his attention on what might come next.

Renji is a steady fixture, as is captain Hitsugaya. Matsumoto-fukutaichou comes and goes, and Aizen is infuriatingly precocious and somehow always manages to show up when his presence is dreaded the most. Of course, Yuzu never fails to invite him inside for a visit.

Karin started to accept his visits and Byakuya, most concerningly, is starting to wane in his violent efforts to get the man to scram.

Concerning, but these are not normal times anyway.

What was a quiet house before has transformed into a rambunctious gathering place.

Not a day passes during which someone _happens_ to drop by for a visit, for a tea break, for free food. Byakuya has learned to accept the company, even as he sometimes longs for the quiet and the silence.

Like right now, because the house seems to try to swallow him whole. There were many preparations for the upcoming New Year’s celebration during the day, this year's party promising to be wilder than last year’s grim gathering because Kurosaki Ichigo has been saved and will soon return home.

His breath fogs up and vanishes in the cold air as he looks at the house across the street, decorated with flashing little lights. The whole street, the whole town, they are dressed in the same kind of manner until Byakuya can basically _taste_ the festive spirit.

“Captain Kuchiki.” Matsumoto greets him, walking up and stopping a short distance away from him. Hands in her coat’s pockets, the woman snuggles into her coat. Her ear mufflers are an exaggerated shade of pink.

“Matsumoto-fukutaichou.” Byakuya replies calmly. “What brings you out here?”

His curiosity awards him with a strained smile.

“I actually hate the cold, but you left, and I decided that this was a good opportunity.”

And now, Byakuya is confused.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

The explanation doesn’t make it any better.

“What about?” He asks curiously.

Rangiku sighs and leans her back on the concrete fence of the neighboring household that they stand in front of. She tilts her head and looks up to the sky, coated over with pinkish clouds.

“My captain, actually.”

Byakuya’s eyebrows rise up on his forehead. He has no idea what she wishes to tell him, but he’s had an idea of his own about captain Hitsugaya for a while now. This is as good an opportunity to share it as any.

“Continue then.” He urges when the woman doesn’t speak.

There is a lot of hesitation in her posture, but finally, Rangiku gathers her courage. Byakuya knows that she’s made up her mind when her back straightens and her shoulders square back.

She looks at him with an incredible amount of serenity and says.

“I want to try and convince my captain not to return to the Seiretei and instead remain in the World of the Living.”

The declaration would have been surreal one year ago. Today, Byakuya accepts it solemnly, glad that their ideas seem to coincide.

“He will be much better off, I’m sure. Heck, he already is!” Rangiku laughs and shakes her head. “I’ve always been concerned that he’s too stressed out and too tense for a kid his age. There are too many responsibilities that come with being a captain.”

The lieutenant doesn’t make it any better by slacking off, but Byakuya abstains from that comment because he doesn’t know the context.

What if he assumed wrong and there is a reason why Matsumoto does that? What if she is trying to make captain Hitsugaya give up the mountain load of responsibilities he carries every waking moment by adding even more onto the scale to make him crumble?

It is a sadistic approach, but effective and certainly one of the only possible strategies someone in Matsumoto’s position could take. Any other and she would come across as jealous and title-seeking.

“I just,” she bites her lip, worried and concerned, “don’t want to see him come to resent his captaincy and regret somewhere down the line that he didn’t stay back when the chance presented itself.”

“How do you know that this is what your captain wishes?”

Rangiku huffs out a breath.

“Did you see him, captain Kuchiki? You can’t tell me that you can look at him and not think he’s another person altogether.”

Byakuya concurs with her astute observation. Captain Hitsugaya finally got a chance to live and act his age, and it shows in the way that he finally seems at ease in his mannerisms and actions.

Amazing what incredible clarity a couple of months in the Gensei can grant.

“I agree with you, Matsumoto-fukutaichou.”

Rangiku seems shocked that the sixth division captain agreed so easily and without any persuasion, but then a wide smile blooms on her lips.

“How do you wish to proceed then?”

“What?”

“How are you planning to convince captain Hitsugaya to stay here?” Byakuya reiterates.

Matsumoto bites the inside of her cheek thoughtfully before she beams at him and the captain can easily guess what her next words will be.

“I was thinking that maybe captain Kuchiki could talk to him?”

But Byakuya doesn’t know what he could say to convince the younger captain to stay. He isn’t all ‘buddy-buddy’ with him, though he does consider them to be approaching the title of _friends._ Still, he doesn’t feel comfortable going alone, but he won’t have to.

Byakuya meets Rangiku’s eyes steadily as he says.

“I have another idea. We will go talk to him together.”

Rangiku grins and lifts an arm, like a show of power.

“Great idea! Going full out might just do the trick.”

Byakuya snorts softly and disagrees. “No, I don’t think that is the trick, but I know what will be.”

When the lieutenant looks at him questioningly, he averts his eyes and looks to the sky, unwilling to show her the little smile resting at the corners of his lips.

“I know exactly who holds the power to sway him in this decision.” He says as snow starts to fall towards the earth.

Rangiku nods but keeps silent, satisfied with her success and willing to leave things in his care.

A wave of shouts announces that they’ve spent enough time outside.

The house is incredibly warm when they return, and the kitchen is a complete and utter disaster.

“Let me help you with this, Yuzu.” Byakuya lifts the hefty cake that the girl spent the last two days preparing, and carefully deposits it in the refrigerator for when the clock strikes midnight.

“I’m telling you – this isn’t _fair_!” Keigo Asano whines loud enough to wake up the whole neighborhood.

Mizuiro throws his friend a derisive glare.

“Fair’s got nothing to do with it. Pay up, Keigo.”

Tears streaming down his face, Keigo hands what little fake money he has left to Karin. Smirking, the girl plucks them out of his hand triumphantly.

“Sucks to be you, but you’re better than Aizen, at least.”

Aizen glares from his ‘prison’, which in a bout of creativity, has been fashioned as a box, cut with rectangles that resemble the space between bars. Currently, the man has it on his head and Byakuya uses Karin’s phone to snap a picture, savvy enough with technology by now to immortalize the moment into eternity.

“The stage is ready, boys and girls!” Don Kanonji announces dramatically, having long since lost. “Who will be the winner of this legendary last game of the year?!”

Kon huffs, shifting through his stack of fake money.

“Obviously me!”

Karin glares down at the plushie.

“Watch out or I’m throwing you in the washing machine!”

“Hey, that’s discrimination!”

“Continue arguing you two, while I take all the winnings.” Tatsuki grins as she accepts Mizuiro’s hefty sum for her hotel lot.

“I’m out.” The young man whines and takes out his phone.

“This is certainly a heated game.” Byakuya observes mildly.

“You’ve got no idea captain.” Renji mumbles, sitting on a chair at the table with a packet of ice to his cheek. “Tatsuki punched me when I tried to cheat.” He explains.

“Good.” Byakuya concludes, much to his lieutenant’s loud protests.

“Do you girls know where Isshin keeps the sake?” Yoruichi calls from where she’s sitting on the kitchen counter. “We’re all out.”

“Good.” Byakuya says for the second time in a minute, but this time lower so the crazy woman won’t hear him.

“You guys should hurry it up or you won’t be done by midnight.” Toshiro announces after taking a look at the clock.

Everyone scrambles and the game intensifies, much to the onlookers’ amusement.

_11:30_

Byakuya silently counts down the time remaining in this year, feeling the absence of his sister, but knowing that he will get to see her soon. He hopes that things are well in Hueco Mundo, and that they will even hold a small celebration there to lift up their spirits.

Aizen exits the game gloriously funny.

_11:42_

Rangiku and Yoruichi find Isshin’s sake, may it rest in peace.

_11:54_

Karin emerges victorious.

There is a chorus of shouts and then everyone is putting on their coats and scrambling for the door.

In the distance, the sound of firecrackers echoes through the windy streets of the neighborhood.

_11:59_

Byakuya looks up to the sky, waiting for the fireworks as everyone else counts down loudly. He never expected to spend his New Year’s in the world of the living, but all things considered, it is a nice experience and he’s certainly enjoying it.

As for the next year – he promises to start making things right.

_12:00_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i could just write about these disastrous idiots forever😂  
> last part i was in a new years moodish, since it's the season anyways
> 
> thanks for reading and i hope that you enjoyed the story! <3


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